Welcome to the EIGHTH edition of the Lazy Desperado newsletter! This week we take a look at false reports surrounding the sudden death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, a quick coronavirus update and fresh tracks from new albums that dropped this week.
This week was a little rough. I’ve been listening to a lot of music from rappers who passed away in between being swamped with work, trying to keep relationships and making sure my pets don’t eat the couch. Even though the last few days were emotionally tolling, it helps to remember something my girlfriend, Haylee, tells me all of the time. “You are not alone.” Or I’ll text my best friend Peter, who always tells me that he loves me.
So, if you’re getting through a bad week, year, month, or life (been there), just remember to reach out and let others know. Sometimes it’s okay to lean on others for weeks when it’s hard to get out of bed and make that drive to the office.
After an extra newsletter last week and odd breaks between other newsletters, we will be back on schedule with a bi-weekly newsletter. So expected issue nine in your inbox in exactly two weeks!
Thank you for subscribing, and as always SHARE THE HELL out of this newsletter through your favorite dating app, conversations with your doctor, snail mail, private jet, whatever you prefer. If you have any suggestions for the newsletter, respond to this newsletter or email me at cpryce@protonmail.com. Let’s get into it:
“Timely” coverage of Kobe Bryant’s death
When Kobe Bryant died on Jan. 26 along with his daughter Gianna Bryant, John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah Chester, Payton Chester, Christina Mauser, and Ara Zobayan in a helicopter crash, the confusion was unnecessary on top of the sudden shock.
Multiple people who were nowhere near the crash were killed off (including the rest of Bryant’s family and former LA Laker Rick Fox) in articles from outlets like ABC and news segments from BBC used clips of LeBron James. TMZ, the worst offender, tweeted the death of Kobe Bryant and others before law enforcement could contact families of the deceased.
As a reporter, this was embarrassing because all of these rookie mistakes could have been avoided if each outlet took the approach of the LA Times and NBC News, who both took time to confirm who all was on the helicopter while alerting their readers that they were aware of the situation. Contacting law enforcement after an accident is not hard at all. Usually in these types of situations police will hold press conferences (after informing families of the tragedy and gathering more information) where reporters can come and confirm details followed up by a press released blasted out to the media.
I know this because I’ve covered multiple breaking news events during more than five years of reporting for several newspapers . I have seen both ends of the coverage spectrum. I didn’t report Trump’s win in 2016 until the counts were done and I was only 21, yet Newsweek published a cover with Hillary Clinton winning the election.
During the aftermath of a shooting in front of a church in Cypress, TX last winter, at least 100 local Twitter users were reporting false information, such as the location of the shooter and how many people died, before the police held a press conference. I only tweeted out what could be confirmed by Harris County law enforcement and individuals who were exiting the church, yet multiple reporters for news stations were riffing with assumed status of the shooter that led police officers to withhold further information for fear of having their pursuit ruined. I am proud to say the Houston Chronicle version of that article, and coverage from other outlets, had no corrections because our team waited until each detail could be confirmed in-person. All it took was waiting minutes after a situation that was already underway. No quick coverage with false claims would have helped the situation.
Reporters with TMZ and correspondents with news stations, like the now suspended Matt Gutman, were focused on one thing: being first. TMZ was the first to report on the deaths of rappers XXXTentacion (after a video of his dead body was already circulating on Twitter minutes after he was shot in his own vehicle), Lil Peep (once again, with a video of his body dead from an overdose on fentanyl-laced Xanax) and Mac Miller due to their willingness to ignore any form of ethics or respect. Death is a sensitive topic that requires care, not haphazard false reports fueled by wanting to score the most clicks and views from their broken story.
Being a reporter requires having the logic skills needed to provide straight-to-the-point, well-informed, timely articles. With the overgrowth of social media into media coverage, the timely aspect has been morphed into a race. “Timely” means “first” in 2020. Over the course of the past decade or so the race to be “timely” has caused Reddit to disrupt investigations, Twitter users to post the videos mentioned above, the president to add to his long list of false tweets and, now, trauma for the family of Rick Fox, who believed he was dead thanks to “timely” news reports.
It’s time media realizes that social media and the power to publish with a thumb are tools to use for complete coverage, not fragmented and broken coverage that has to be assembled and stitched back together post-production. Tweeting is for updating testy situations with confirmed reports. Live streaming on Instagram is for up-to-date coverage of a live event, not a platform for publishing live snuff films. Using a small bit of humanity before pressing “publish” can make for a clean story and takes a small step toward helping the public regain trust in traditional news media.
Rest In Peace to everyone that died in the helicopter crash. May there be better coverage for the dead in the future.
The beer jokes got old a week ago
The coronavirus is spreading, but don’t fret. Seriously. Don’t freak out yet. I promise I’m not freaking out at all.
In the meantime, check out this thread about the coronavirus, which has spread to China, the UK, and … Texas. Specifically College Station, TX, my alma mater that is less than two hours from my current location. Awesome.
Anyway, check out this thread of severe misinformation from Buzzfeed reporter Jane Lytvynenko including BS like advising people to use homeopathy to cure coronavirus, lying about people dying in the street from the virus and people literally using a crisis to advertise.
Click on the tweets to see the entire thread.
Big Nas and Lil Nas meet, shake hands
This week the Roundup includes the inevitable Lil Nas X and Nas collab, new music from Lil’ Wayne (aka the grandfather of every rapper since 2008) and new Megan Thee Stallion, as usual. Enjoy and follow the playlist! It lets me know if you actually like it and if we should keep this portion in the newsletter. “Fkn Around” (Phony Ppl and Megan Thee Stallion) is my personal favorite from this week, featuring a silky smooth chorus and some funny bars from Meg. And yes, B.I.T.C.H and H.O.E are next to each other on purpose.
That’s it for this issue! Thank you for reading and don’t forget to get to SHARE the newsletter, COMMENT on anything you like or dislike and SEND ME IDEAS FOR GUEST ARTICLES. Stay away from the coronavirus and stay away from TMZ.
See you all next week - Chevall P.